About a month ago, YLB was curious to know how many short lists (let's define them as <100 minutes) went through. Let's do the math.

First of all, the overall number of <100 minute lists was higher than ever, with 9 lists of that length being submitted vs. 11 lists of 100 minutes or greater. This is a big change from the norm.

Performance-wise though, not so great at this point. Only 2 out of 9 shorter lists (Liam and LJT) made it through to the finals (22%). If the overall odds of a shorter list making it through is 9/20 or 45%, that's very poor. Longer lists had an 11/20 or 55% chance of being represented and 8/11 (73%) made it through.

So while contestants are more likely than ever to make shorter lists, voters still tend to prefer longer lists, though list length itself probably has a relatively small impact on that.

Def bummed about YLB as well, and namkcuR's all-female extravaganza. But by not voting they did kind of dig their own graves.

Regardless, and not to sound cheesy, but the real reward is getting to expose people to music they didn't know, and provide a pleasurable and/or interesting listening experience. I think everyone succeeded in that way to one extent or another.